How much do private coaches help the student?

connections
Sat, 26 Jan 2013 13:20:12 +0000

Yes, a connected, savvy college acting audition coach can definitely give you a leg up. BUT we couldn’t afford coaches. I’m a single mom of five. So to those who cannot afford coaches like actor12: Don’t lose hope!

HOWEVER, just as you would have to do if you didn’t have, say, a tutor for the SAT, you will have to do the leg work yourself and find mentors who will advocate for you. This is not impossible at all. My kids were blessed with several different sorts of mentors: from directors they’d worked with to knowledgable high school teachers. But you do need someone to help you with the monologue, unless you have a great deal of experience. actor12, Pm me if you need ideas.

I agree with actor 12: a college audition coach is VERY different from a professional acting coach. They can be the same person, but don’t have to be. A professional acting coach is working one on one with you on your acting skills, whatever they are. Sometimes they can also work with you on a particular part for a movie/play. But they are more connected to the professional world rather than the college world–the two are not the same, although there is of course overlap.

A college audition coach is someone who helps you with the whole process of auditioning for college–she/he works on helping you identify the best monologue, the best schools for you, and works with you on interviewing, etc. This person should be familiar and connected with the BFA/BA world, know what programs there are and at best should have connections with some of the colleges.

actor12, my kids had NONE of the advantages you list, and yet they got into top colleges. Yes, to be well off & to have heavily involved parents can give you very big advantages. There is no denying that.

But it is NOT impossible to succeed without being well off or not having involved parents. And on the plus side, my own kids learned early on to advocate for themselves and to be resourceful. Not saying that a kid with all that help ISN’T resourceful at all! Just that you HAVE to be if you don’t have the advantages of coaching for years, and as you say, ‘guidance in everything from wardrobe to summer programs and apps and performance skills.’ I am too overwhelmed myself to operate as their manager or whatever, I did not schedule things for them, carry their stuff, remind them of anything. I could not hire anyone to do that either.

For example, one time my oldest went to a big college audition and realized he’d forgotten his resume and headshot. He then had to figure out for himself what to do, and quickly remembered it was online as he’d emailed them recently for another audition. So he found a Kinko’s and got online and printed them out. Luckily, he’d arrived at his audition an hour early so he got there on time. This is one example of a situation that happened because I wasn’t his ‘manager’, no one ‘reminded’ him to do anything, and then he had to figure out what to do. He then was able to grow from that and learned NEVER to forget his headshot/resume again! :-)

This is just a small example. I sympathize with you–as another low income person, I find it can be very dispiriting at times when I see how much help others get. But I’m here to tell you it’s entirely possible to succeed without all that help. YOu just have to advocate more for yourself, stay positive, learn from your mistakes, and never give up! And remember, these are skills EVERYONE needs sooner or later, so the benefit is that you are learning them sooner.

Best of luck.